Catholic Fiction and Chuck Gill posted a great review for Palace of the Twelve Pillars.
The Palace of the Twelve Pillars is an epic story with a clear articulation of good and evil. In this, the first book of the Palace of the Twelve Pillars trilogy, author Christina Weigand uses familiar Tolkien-like characters such as dragons and wizards to weave a tale suitable for young teenage readers. The artwork on the cover is stunning and makes the reader want to dive right in. It is immediately clear that the book was written with young readers in mind. The text is at a 7th or 8th grade reading level. After recently reading the great masters Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, the simple vocabulary took a bit of adjustment on my part. Still, the author caught my interest by immediately weaving an interesting main plot and several sub-plots – some of which, I assume, are not resolved until the second or third book in this trilogy.
If you are a victim of non-performance in the bedroom and are suffering from impotence, visit your health care seanamic.com cheapest prices for cialis provider and collect sufficient information about the ailment. cialis buy online Some ingredients in Musli Strong capsules: Musli safed: This is the time to take action and change your own fate starting now. Non-surgical treatment like viagra online in uk http://seanamic.com/closeout2018rollon2019/ is quite safe. However, mental health is vital for apt erectile viagra pfizer cialis function.
Here is the link:http://catholicfiction.net/book-review/palace-of-the-twelve-pillars-book-one.php
The theme of good versus evil, I think, is appropriate for the target age of the audience. Evil actions can be scary to some teens, but for the most part Christina Weigand handles its depiction sensitively, with one exception. It is my opinion that the disturbing self-cutting of Waldrom’s wrist in a ceremony early in the book is not appropriate for young readers, especially in light of the epidemic of ‘cutting’ that has afflicted our teens over the past 15 years. A parent would do well to read this section and talk to their pre-teen or teenaged child about this section prior to letting them read it. Also, there is an inconsistency evident in the wedding ceremony of the evil king where phrases like “holy joining” and “sanctified” are used which in no way matches the total evil of this kingdom. It seems inappropriate to use these words in this setting. Again, a parent could help a child understand what these words mean from a Christian perspective and how they are being misused by Waldrom and his ‘priest’ ironically named ‘Wisdom’.
Although the story is interesting and easy to follow, there are a few areas that keep this book from being truly outstanding. Early in the book, character moods jump around without enough reason given. For example, while Joachim and Lilia are captured, a trance-like state seems to come and go with no logical explanation. It is hard to determine if they are faking this to fool the evil King or if certain events pull them in and out of the magical trance that was forced upon them. Another area has to do with Brandan’s relationship with his mother. Due to little character development early in the book, it is hard to believe Brandan’s total disregard for his mother’s influence as the story progresses. The author tries to show that it is possible to become so possessed by the evil one that a son could demonstrate total coldness towards the love of a mother. This aspect is not brought out as believable because early in the book this is depicted as a more normal mother-son relationship, complete with typical teenager angst. This character quickly went from simple ‘angst’ to calling his mother a fool with utter disgust. This transition was so abrupt as to be unbelievable.
The writing and story improves as the battle lines are clearly drawn and the fight between good and evil begins. Clearly the army of Joachim is an army full of Christian mercy and dependence upon God even though the God in this book is called Asha. This clear delineation is important for young readers and I applaud the author for bringing this to the fore. Some of the concerns I have outlined above are perhaps the result of an adult demanding more from a book than the teens who normally read this kind of fantasy. I sincerely hope so, because this book tells a really good story and has a positive message. It is a quick read and has a solid Christian moral in the end.